What is MSKHUB and WHO is it for?

Welcome to the MSKhub.com !

Musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions (such as joint pain and problems) are common and increase with age. As science and medicine move forward, we are living longer and consequently have an ageing population. However, living longer/ ageing is also associated with worsening MSK pain and problems. These problems can range from aches and pains on knees when climbing stairs to functional problems with hands when trying to open jars and bottle tops, or struggling with activities once enjoyed, due to pain, fatigue and sleep problems. We know that one in two people over the age of 50 will get Osteoarthritis and 1 in 10 over the age of 65 will experience major decline in function.

Saying that, MSK pain and problems can affect us at any age, and are the greatest cause of disability in developed countries. Impact of conditions such as arthritis on our quality of life is wide ranging, and span from limitations in daily activities to reduced leisure, as well as having problems at work. For example we know that one in five people with Rheumatoid Arthritis are at risk of work disability five years from receiving a diagnosis.

Whilst some people may be diagnosed with one or more MSK condition(s), some of us will just have an unexplained acute or chronic pain and stiffness in one or more joints in our body. There are hundreds of MSK and rheumatic conditions, therefore getting a differential diagnosis may take some time. Most commonly known conditions can be listed as Osteoarthritis, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Ankylosing Spondylitis, Psoriatic Arthritis, Fibromyalgia and Gout. There are also rare diseases such as Giant Cell Arteritis (GCA) which commonly affects the arteries in the skull causing pain and tenderness over the temples. Because of this, GCA is often known as temporal arteritis. You can find more information about different types of MSK and rheumatic conditions here.

Nevertheless, whether you have a diagnosed MSK condition or living with chronic widespread pain and/ or joint problems, the MSKHUB.com is here to help you better self-manage your symptoms to lead a happier, healthier and more active life. I can hear you say “Sounds great! Tell me how?” Well, here is the thing:

MSKHUB.com is an online self-management platform created by people with MSK conditions, rheumatology researchers and health professionals to:

enable you to conduct self assessment of your MSK/rheumatic pain and problems using evidence-based, valid and reliable clinical assessments and create your own online health record

provide individualised advice and practical tips to help you with daily activities and participation

increase access to relevant and understandable health information to enable you to effectively self-manage your symptoms.

translate the latest, evidence-based research into simple strategies that you can apply

help you to identify whether you are at risk of work instability and if so, suggests strategies you can adopt at work to prevent work disability

share good practice and latest in the clinical field, and provide training to support health professionals working in rheumatology to provide you with better, research informed care.

collect health data using valid and reliable patient reported outcome measures to create a large research repository to investigate the impact of health conditions on individuals’ function, participation and quality of life.

Once you have registered with the MSKHUB you will be able to login to your account and complete self assessments to create your own health record. As you complete these assessments, you will receive individualised advice, based on the type of difficulties/ problems you have reported. You will also be able to create charts to review your progress over time, save and print the results of these assessments to take them to your health professionals to show the extent of your difficulties, as well as your progress. Please note that MSKHUB is an on-going project in itself, and some of the features are still under development through an iterative process in which we engage wider stakeholders, including a feedback from our users. Therefore, please do come back to us with any feedback you may have, which can include receiving error messages, noticing something wrong or not being able to find something you think it may be useful. We really value your feedback and keen to improve this platform to make sure it is both user friendly and informative! Please use our Contact Us page to register any comments you may have.